Capitol Notebook

November 02, 1997|By DAVID LERMAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — No one could accuse Sen. Charles S. Robb last week of being a liberal spender.

The Virginia Democrat, a staunch fiscal conservative and supporter of the presidential line-item veto, risked the wrath of his own constituents by voting against a bill to restore military construction projects vetoed by President Clinton.

The bill includes three projects worth $27 million for Hampton Roads:

* An air traffic control center and radar tower for Norfolk Naval Air Station.

* A missile storage facility for Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

* Pier improvements at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

By a vote of 69 to 30, the Senate, as expected, approved the measure aimed at overriding the first effort by a president to spike individual line items from a spending bill. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., joined the majority in voting to restore the projects.

Most senators said the vetoed projects are needed improvements and were part of the Pentagon's own five-year plan. In many instances, they said, Clinton based his veto decision on faulty information supplied by the military that claimed the projects could not get under construction this year even if the money were provided.

But Robb argued it is hypocritical for senators to give the president line-item veto power and then seek to override the veto to protect pet projects.

``If you're for the line-item veto in principle, but can't take the heat when it applies to your particular district, then you ought not to be for the line-item veto,'' he said.

The fate of the legislation remains uncertain. The House has not scheduled a vote on the measure and may not do so until early next year. Even if the bill is passed, Clinton could veto it again. Then a two-thirds majority would be needed to override the veto for final approval of the construction projects.

CLUBS FOR KIDS.

Hampton Roads localities could become eligible for new federal aid to open more Boys and Girls Clubs over the next few years.

A bill passed Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee would authorize funding for an estimated 2,500 new clubs nationwide. The measure is an attempt to offer more clubs in low-income neighborhoods, particularly to serve public housing developments.

Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Newport News, a committee member and supporter of the bill, said funding hinges on $2.5 billion that could be tapped in a separate appropriations bill now pending in Congress.

``I think the urban areas in Virginia would qualify for priority consideration,'' Scott said. ``If it gets funded, instead of spending billions on prisons, we'd spend money to get kids off the street before they commit a crime. It's a recognition that prevention must be part of the formula.''

He said the clubs would be active during afternoon hours, which studies show are the peak time for youth crimes. The committee also adopted an amendment aimed at ensuring rural areas are not ignored as new club sites.

NATO NEIGHBORS IN NEED.

Norfolk, headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Atlantic Forces, is home to an estimated 130 foreign employees, mostly from Norway, who under current law will have to leave the United States when they retire.

Many are seeking the right to remain here.

Rep. Owen B. Pickett, D-Virginia Beach, has sponsored a bill designed to give them that option. The bill cleared the House Judiciary Committee last week and is expected to win easy passage in Congress. Stay tuned.

COMPUTER-AGE REBELS.

For better or worse, computers have invaded almost every home and workplace in the country.

But not the U.S. Senate, which took decades to allow the modern invention known as television to invade a chamber more accustomed to 19th-century spittoons.

Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, and ranking Democrat Wendell H. Ford, D-Ky., announced their opposition to permitting the use of laptop computers on the Senate floor.

Tradition and a respect for decorum, they said, dictated otherwise.

``It appears that this request is a bit ahead of its time,'' Ford told the Congressional Monitor.

The decision probably makes fax machines and cellular phones out of the question, too.

QUIP OF THE WEEK.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, stating the obvious:

``This is not theology, this is legislation. This is not a cathedral, this is Congress.''